The BBC's Winter Meeting was held on Friday, February 3, 2012 at the Bedford Middle School. Our guest speaker was Mr.Greg Miller. The social hour opened at 6:30 PM to a hallway filled with Club members eager to meet Greg. He was an absolute delight, shaking hands, autographing books, and mugging for the cameras. The meeting opened at 7:30 PM to an audience of nearly 200 people. BBC President, Mr. Eddie Giles, provided updates on several upcoming events, including the Club's 100th Anniversary. (Keep tabs on the BBC website for updates on the 100th.) Eddie then introduced and welcomed Greg to the stage.
Armed with only with a microphone, Greg took us on a journey through his life growing up as a birder in Ohio, outlined the inspiring events that lead up to his Big Year in 1998, and conveyed his personal experiences as he sought to break seeing 700 bird species in a single year. He then told us stories about being involved with Mark Obmascik's book The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession and his experiences working on the 2011 20th Century Fox film The Big Year.
His tales took us from his initial phone conversations with the director, his first meeting with Jack Black while on the movie set, to embarrassing yet funny moments such as one where he accidentally dropped an extra large, chicken salad sub on the floor of Owen Wilson’s brand new Cadillac! Greg kept the audience completely enthralled and entertained.
His talk brought us many moments of laughter and heartfelt poignancy. By the time Greg finished, nearly two hours had passed. For those in the audience, it seemed as if time had stood still. Club members were eager to hear more from Greg as he shares our passion for birds and birding and he has so many inspiring messages to convey. Greg gave us an intimate view into what it means to be a birder. For those fortunate enough to attend that evening, it was a meeting that will be remembered for a long time to come.
To see more photos from the meeting, check out the photo album on the BBC Facebook page!
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